| DAY 17 - CHRISTMAS THROUGH INDIAN EYES |
Here's the old favorite
done by a master of
Native American flute music,
Douglas Spotted Eagle.
It's on a CD titled:
A WINTER'S SOLSTICE V,
which includes a number of
Windham Hill label artists,
released in 1995.
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This is the second time
we've used this melody,
but of course this is totally
different, sung here by
the ladies of
The Fruitland Gospel Trio,
on their CD
A Navajo Christmas.
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Everyday is our Christmas.
Every meal is our Christmas.
At every meal we take a little portion of the food
we are eating, and we offer it to the spirit world
on behalf of the four legged, and the winged, and the two legged.
We pray - not the way most Christians pray -
but we thank the Grandfathers, the Spirit,
and the Guardian Angel.
The Indian Culture is actually grounded
in the traditions of a Roving Angel.
The life-ways of Roving Angels are actually
the way Indian People live. They hold out their hands
and help the sick and the needy. They feed and clothe the poor.
We have high respect for the avatar because we believe that
it is in giving that we receive.
We are taught as Traditional children
that we have abundance. The Creator has given us
everything: the water, the air we breathe,
the earth as our flesh, and our energy force: our heart.
We are thankful every day. We pray early in the morning,
before sunrise, to the morning star, and the evening star.
We pray for our relatives who are in the universe
that someday they will come.
We also pray that the Great Spirit's son
will live again.
Looks for Buffalo, Oglala Sioux Spiritual Leader
From the AAA Native Arts website
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We Indians have always been clear thinkers
within the scope of our understanding, but cause
and effect have not formed the basis for our thinking.
We do not chart and measure the vast field of nature
or express her wonders in the terms of science;
on the contrary, we see miracles on every hand -
the miracle of life in seed and egg,
the miracle of death in a lightning flash
and in the swelling deep!
Nothing of the marvelous can astonish us -
a beast could speak or the sun stand still.
The virgin birth seems scarcely more miraculous
than is the birth of every child that comes
into the world, and the miracle of the loaves and fishes
excites no greater wonder than the harvest that
springs from a single ear of corn.
Ohiyesa (Charles Eastman) Santee Sioux
The Soul of the Indian, 1911
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As I sit quietly on this December 25th,
a day so holy to all of Christendom,
I reflect sadly on the memories of the ancestors, elders,
brothers and sisters who perished in the cold winter winds
and snows of the past; the victims of white diseases, of gunshots and swords,
of starvation and exposure. My heart is heavy with their loss.
The words, "Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men," have always,
and still are today, meant only for the chosen few.
Will it ever change? I pray to the Creator,
and to the God-Spirit of every person alive by whatever name it is called,
that peace and good will enter the heart of each
while there are still two-leggeds to walk the earth.
Julia White
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R. Carlos Nakai is certainly the most well-known and prolific
master of Indian flute in the country. This is from a CD from '89 of mostly
traditional Christmas music, with his unique flair, accompanied by
William Eaton. It's titled Winter Dreams for Christmas,
a Canyon Records release.
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